Youngstown Promise Starts ‘Reading While Laundering’ Project
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown Promise Neighborhoods and Sunshine Bright Laundromat will host their first Making Laundry Day Lit event to introduce their Reading While Laundering initiative to the public.
Making Laundry Day Lit, which will take place Nov. 30 at Sunshine Brite, 2608 South Ave. #3, from noon to 4 p.m., will include free laundry services for up to 30 families with children. The Public Library of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley will be in attendance with their pop-up library and will provide information related to their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program.
“This initiative aligns with our goals of serving as a community partner in helping close the literacy gap and making early literacy programs and resources available in creative ways and spaces,” said Trina Benson, executive director, YPN. “We are excited to be the first in Youngstown.”
Youngstown Promise will provide the laundromat with permanent bookshelves and new books for children to promote early literacy skills and parent engagement. Laundromat clients will have the option to read books while at the laundromat and to take books home at no charge. Books will be replenished at the laundromat monthly.
Prior to 2019, the organization was known as the Taft Promise Neighborhood Initiative. Established in 2015, it began as a coalition of organizations and stakeholders with services and programming devoted to providing better education, healthier living, stronger workforce development, revitalized infrastructure and engaged residents for the 4,090 residents in the Taft Neighborhood on Youngstown’s south side.
Taft Promise has evolved to become Youngstown Promise Neighborhoods with the goal being to model and duplicate best practices and strategies in neighborhoods across Youngstown. Committed to serve as a backbone organization, the organization will strive to guide vision, align strategies, build public will, support shared measurements, mobilize funding and engage volunteers and residents.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
